Electronic circuits may have one or more low power states designed to reduce the power consumption of the electronic circuit. In the low power states, certain components of the electronic circuit that are not in use may be disabled and/or the supply voltage delivered to the components may be shut off or reduced. For example, the electronic circuit may have a first low power state, in which the supply voltage is reduced, and a second low power state in which the supply voltage is shut off (e.g., lowered to approximately zero). The electronic circuit consumes less power in the second low power state, but requires a longer time period (e.g., latency) to enter and exit the second low power state than the first low power state. Accordingly, in some situations, the electronic circuit may be able to enter the first low power state, but not able to enter the second low power state.
However, some circuit components include analog circuits that are still active during the first low power state. Some of these analog circuits are designed to be independent of the supply voltage, which enhances the circuit's performance but causes the circuit to consume current even at low supply voltages. Furthermore, the analog circuits are difficult to shut off, because shutting off the analog circuit may expose one or more transistors to a voltage drop that is greater than a maximum voltage, VMAX, that is permitted to be dropped across the transistor without damaging the transistor. The analog circuits may normally operate at a supply voltage that is higher than VMAX. Under normal operation of the analog circuit, current is always running, and the supply voltage is dropped across two or more transistors, so no transistor has a voltage drop across it of more than VMAX. However, if the analog circuit is shut off, one or more transistors may have a voltage drop across the transistor greater than VMAX.